Gastronomy 101

It's probably pretty clear to anyone who reads this blog that I am not a professional chef, nor even a particularly good one. I don't make up fantastic, creative and beautiful recipes from my own head, nor do I even exercise more than the most basic cooking skills usually. Sometimes I take on a project and when I do I need a recipe. So how DO I plan and make my meals on a daily basis? Well, I'm pretty embarrassed to let you peek behind the scenes on this process, but I feel I owe it to anyone who bothers to read this to be completely honest, and also to let you get to know me a little so that you can decide whether or not the time is right to never read this blog, since I clearly do not know what I am talking about. So how do I cook, when I have to fend for myself? Well, my number one trick is to make it LOOK nice, so that even if it's not good, I can pretend to the world at large that what I am eating is incredibly AWESOME. It's not always possible, but it's wh...

February 23 was "Open That Bottle" night - a night on which you are supposed to open that bottle of wine you have been saving for ... something, but you don't know what. To stop people from the danger of saving a bottle for too long, this night was invented to give you an excuse. Because there are certain dangers that arise from saving a bottle of wine for too long. It will acquire a mythical status in your mind and you will put it off and put it off and perhaps you will put it off so long that the person you wish to drink it with is no longer around, as in the incredibly sad story I heard on NPR one time, or the wine has turned to vinegar (also in that same incredibly sad story - I told you it was SAD) , or perhaps you end up drinking it alone and pathetic out of a styrofoam cup in a fast food restaurant. You never know! If you missed this year's occasion - do not fret! It happens every year on the last Saturday in February. Probably whatever wine you would have o...

One of the bonuses of having weekends is the ability to have long leisurely breakfasts, at a restaurant, if possible. The ability to wake up slowly and then sit in the sunlight drinking coffee as you come to life and talking with someone you really like before digging into a hearty and substantial breakfast that will carry you through the rest of the day is a small luxury that almost makes it worth it to work through the week to make the money to pay for your breakfast. One place I love to have breakfast in my neighborhood is BLD . BLD is sunny and bright, with really good coffee, and you can sit outside or tuck yourself into a corner for an intimate conversation. You can even bring your dog. The problem is that it's hard to breakfast in L.A. From about 10:00 am to 3:00 pm on the weekends, everyone and their moms and their kids and their dogs and their boyfriends and their one-night stands are brunching it up everywhere. Sometimes you just don't want to go wait an hour st...

So I haven’t actually had a full meal at this place yet, but based on my first short experience with it, I think it looks very promising, and I want to spread the word to help these people out. I was going to Kay n’ Dave’s with a couple of friends tonight, and we parked in front of this bright red, neatly-fonted, bright little building that pronounced itself “Food” and indeed looked to be full of the same. The place was closed, but the staff was inside cleaning up, and when they saw us peeping in, a woman came to the door and waved us in. “Oh, we’re just looking,” we said shyly, “we’re actually going to dinner down the street.” Nonetheless, she continued to wave us in, saying that they were closed, but were new in the neighborhood so she’d love to have us come look. The woman’s name is Judy Ornstein, and she’s a longtime resident of the neighborhood, a 30-year veteran of the restaurant industry, and co-owner of Food. She said that previously there was a cramped, dingy and dusty conv...

If you enjoy breakfast, you may enjoy my mini-review of The Waffle on la.foodblogging.

... you go to the most insane and hilarious biker mama blaxploitation film you have ever seen in your life ... ... and you're sitting there thinking things like: "Hey, that soul food restaurant is where Akasha is now!" "I wonder what's where that Chop Suey restaurant is?" (A parking lot) "What about this rib stand?" (A mini-mall) "I think that warehouse where the pot-sicle man lives is where Surfas used to be!" I am such a DORK. Thankfully the absurd power of the Darktown Strutters eventually monopolized all of my attention.

This week's food section tackles some subjects that are near and dear to my heart - jamón ibérico, newly available in the US; Fever Tree mixers; and some restaurant news. Jamón ibérico: The reason I could never be a vegetarian is all contained in this word: charcuterie. I could give up every other meat, but I could not pass by a plate of thinly sliced, salty and spicy cured meats. It just would never happen. Jamón ibérico is cured ham produced in Spain and is made from the cerdo negro (black pig), which subsists on acorns, grass and herbs, with their diet tending more and more towards acorns only as they reach their slaughter date. The very best jamón ibérico is called jamón ibérico de bellota and must be made from free roaming forest pigs that eat only acorns during the last stage of their life. The meat is cured for 36 months. Until 2005, there were, alas no producers of this wondrous ham that were approved by the USDA, so the ham could not make its way here. But in 2005, Embutid...

I don't think I need to convince you that these are good. They are chocolate and they are cookies. Enough said. I'm not actually a chocolate obsessive, but I really loved these cookies. Make sure you use good chocolate, and make sure you've got the right amount of sweetness - not too much. Cookies are one of my favorite baked goods to make because they are so simple - put everything in a bowl, drop it on a sheet, and bake. These are slightly more labor intensive than normal because you have to melt the chocolate, but other than that, since they are drop cookies and require no rolling or shaping, they are really easy. They also make a great gift, since they are small but thick so they are easily packed away without fear of being demolished by the time they are opened. Everyone I gave them to gave a big thumbs up. DARK CHOCOLATE CRACKLES (5 dozen) 11 1/4 oz. (2 1/2 cups) unbleached flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. table salt 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temp. 2 cups firmly...

I received the following from the World Food Program and thought I would repost for those who are concerned: Your help is urgently needed. The Senate and House of Representatives have been working hard to draft their final version of the Farm Bill, before it expires on March 15. Unfortunately, funding for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program has been cut dramatically as part of ongoing negotiations. We are asking Congress to reinstate mandatory funding levels for the McGovern-Dole Program, as originally included in the House of Representatives' Farm Bill Please call your Senators and Member of Congress at (800) 569-FOOD, before March 15 and urge them to support the mandatory funding levels for McGovern-Dole passed in the House of Representatives' original version of the Farm Bill. Who: Anyone who is concerned about child hunger. ...